21 March 2022

Amman, Jordan — Amman wants to press ahead with its plan to route electricity produced in Jordan to Lebanon to help ease gruelling power cuts there, despite backlash from US Republicans who say the proposed deal would benefit President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, as the electricity would transit Syria.

Electricity from Jordan would greatly help Lebanon, Saleh Kharabsheh, Jordan’s energy minister, told Middle East Eye, with the Mediterranean nation grappling with fuel and power shortages that have paralysed the economy and vital services, including hospitals.

“We are waiting for the World Bank to complete its financing operations with Lebanon,” Kharabsheh said. “Once they get the final clearance from the US side, we are ready to start transmitting the electricity.”

The US – whose Caesar sanctions target anyone attempting to engage in economic activities that might support the Assad government – had also negotiated a deal last year that would have seen Egyptian natural gas shipped to Lebanon via the Arab Gas pipeline, with Jordan and Syria as transit countries. The plan was intended to offer an alternative to a Hezbollah effort to transport Iranian fuel to the country.

But in recent months both deals have faced several hurdles, with leading Republican lawmakers in the US House and Senate foreign relations committees criticising the proposals, saying they would “undoubtedly enrich the Assad regime”.